The last few years have seen athletic development really take off.
Coaches of strength and conditioning are learning about their athlete's and how to improve their athleticism, in ways that really advance on old ideas.
Here is a great example: read about Shannon Turley and how he turned Stanford's conditioning program around for the football team.
I am confident there were other factors that improve Stanford's win total, but I am also confident that Turley's approaches were significant.
Keeping players injury free is being recognised as critical for athletic coaches. It is most important way they can help their athletes.
Lastly, it is great to see the arrival of better assessment tools, so athleticism (and not just power or speed) can be measured. Here is the Function Movement Screen which Turley uses.
Showing posts with label sports conditioning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sports conditioning. Show all posts
22 January 2014
20 May 2013
The new offering from Morrill Performance: The Foundation
So ultimate fitness guru Tim Morrill has been hard at work...
He has compiled all his training structures, ideas and explanations into one ebook.
You also get a comprehensive set of videos included in the purchase. There are over 100 videos, to show you the exercises and movements described. One click in the ebook, and you are watching an example on Youtube that you can pause, replay or bookmark.
It's great value for anyone looking to elevate their ultimate game by learning how to train their body and become a better athlete.
If you have been to a Morrill Performance Clinic, the content and ideas are all captured here. No need to guess what the ideal movement or exercise looks like. It will trigger your memory.
If you haven't been to a clinic, this is the next best thing to attending. Living in a different country to Tim is no longer an excuse to miss out!
The even better news is that it currently has $20 off the price. Pretty awesome since it is already the best money you can spend on your improving your fitness for ultimate.
Check it out.
See if you can spot Heads of State being represented!
He has compiled all his training structures, ideas and explanations into one ebook.
You also get a comprehensive set of videos included in the purchase. There are over 100 videos, to show you the exercises and movements described. One click in the ebook, and you are watching an example on Youtube that you can pause, replay or bookmark.
It's great value for anyone looking to elevate their ultimate game by learning how to train their body and become a better athlete.
If you have been to a Morrill Performance Clinic, the content and ideas are all captured here. No need to guess what the ideal movement or exercise looks like. It will trigger your memory.
If you haven't been to a clinic, this is the next best thing to attending. Living in a different country to Tim is no longer an excuse to miss out!
The even better news is that it currently has $20 off the price. Pretty awesome since it is already the best money you can spend on your improving your fitness for ultimate.
Check it out.
See if you can spot Heads of State being represented!
17 December 2012
Five days into the Explosive Ultimate clinics
Tim Morrill has come out to Australia to deliver his Explosive Ultimate clinics.
So far, it has been a real eye opener.
Tim has delivered a clinic to my club, Heads of State, as well four weekend clinics to many other Victorians.
His style is passionate, encouraging, and high-speed. He considers all questions carefully and has extensive knowledge gained from working with hundreds of elite athletes, from reading the literature and personal experience as an ultimate player, surfer and athlete.
Tim starts by outlining the demands of ultimate, identifying the movements we use in our sport, then explaining how to be train them. He has lots of appropriate cues.
While you are trialling the activities and movements, Tim is dishing out feedback and observing how you are going.
It's been really valuable having exposure in Australian ultimate to new ways of thinking about these issues. Historically, our knowledge about fitness and training has been piecemeal. We haven't had comprehensive expertise before on weight training, physiology, recovery and biomechanics from someone who understands the sport of ultimate.
Connect with Tim online, or attend a Explosive Ultimate clinic as soon as you can.
So far, it has been a real eye opener.
 |
| Tim giving advice |
His style is passionate, encouraging, and high-speed. He considers all questions carefully and has extensive knowledge gained from working with hundreds of elite athletes, from reading the literature and personal experience as an ultimate player, surfer and athlete.
Tim starts by outlining the demands of ultimate, identifying the movements we use in our sport, then explaining how to be train them. He has lots of appropriate cues.
While you are trialling the activities and movements, Tim is dishing out feedback and observing how you are going.
The clinics have covered the basics of speed, agility, strength and power.
- Basic Ideas and Concepts for Weightroom
- Exercises and Categories
- Program Design
- Knee Stability & ACL Reduction
- Self Myofacial Release (Lacrosse balls)
- Flexibility, Mobility & Warm Up
- Activation & ACL Reduction (Bands)
- Jumping Mechanics
- Agility: Jab Step and Crossover Progressions (Ladders)
- Conditioning
It's been really valuable having exposure in Australian ultimate to new ways of thinking about these issues. Historically, our knowledge about fitness and training has been piecemeal. We haven't had comprehensive expertise before on weight training, physiology, recovery and biomechanics from someone who understands the sport of ultimate.
Connect with Tim online, or attend a Explosive Ultimate clinic as soon as you can.
2 July 2009
Principles of athletic conditioning
In the last 12 months, I've rethought a few things in ultimate, both from a player's and coach's perspective.
Identifying what works is key to any decisions a coach makes about his or her team.
And this particularly applies to athletic conditioning, which for a small, amateur sport like ultimate is key.
Concepts of periodisation, measurement, goal-setting and individualisation are important.
But getting players to train can be the first goal. This requires setting fitness training in accessible places, setting out clearly what is required, establishing clear reporting guidelines And managing and preventing injuries during a season of training.
When it comes to ways to make players accountable for the work they do, making fitness competitive can be a big step. Give those who make the biggest gains or attend the most, the bragging rights. Give 'em rewards. Put races and challenges into the activities.
The goal of winning your big comp in 3 months time won't drive most players on most nights to bust a gut. But knowing that coming second in the next sprint would mean giving piggybacks and losing the food reward does motivate.
And this can all be simple and fun.
Identifying what works is key to any decisions a coach makes about his or her team.
And this particularly applies to athletic conditioning, which for a small, amateur sport like ultimate is key.
Concepts of periodisation, measurement, goal-setting and individualisation are important.
But getting players to train can be the first goal. This requires setting fitness training in accessible places, setting out clearly what is required, establishing clear reporting guidelines And managing and preventing injuries during a season of training.
When it comes to ways to make players accountable for the work they do, making fitness competitive can be a big step. Give those who make the biggest gains or attend the most, the bragging rights. Give 'em rewards. Put races and challenges into the activities.
The goal of winning your big comp in 3 months time won't drive most players on most nights to bust a gut. But knowing that coming second in the next sprint would mean giving piggybacks and losing the food reward does motivate.
And this can all be simple and fun.
14 July 2008
Training loads
Any coaching or teaching requires planning.
Some folks confuse planning with being rigid. Planning actually means having prepared ideas and the appropriate resources to implement them before an event, and having contingencies available. You need to have flexibility in what you plan. You need to have examined potential scenarios, and have Plan Bs ready.
This applies especially to strength and conditioning training. Obvious example: if you are planning conditioning work for a season, you need to have contingency plans if you, for example, roll your ankle and cannot run. How will your season plan be different if that happens?
But there are more subtle flexibilities, and that includes adapting the workload to the athletes' condition. Are they strong enough to increase their sets? Are they tired? Are they flexible enough?
Aaron Coutts gave one of the talks at my Level 2 Coaching General Principles course back in 2005, and he explained his solutions for this challenge. Aaron has worked for the Essendon Bombers and the Parramatta Eels.
He is one of the authors of this paper.
The guts of it is that if you ask athletes to rate their perceived exertion on a scale of 1-10, it is a good indicator of how hard they physically worked. The key idea that Aaron uses in his work is to use this surveying after training sessions, and use it to vary the intensity of trainings. If you ensure there is a constant variation in training intensities, athletes are less likely to fatigue or disengage. Following harder competitions/trainings with relatively easier ones, and vice versa, keeps athletes focussed, fitter, and more able to achieve the goals of trainings.
The adoption of these concepts means that AFL teams no longer belt their players with a hard fitness session on the Monday after a hard weekend game. Recovery and variety in training load is essential to peak performance.
Some folks confuse planning with being rigid. Planning actually means having prepared ideas and the appropriate resources to implement them before an event, and having contingencies available. You need to have flexibility in what you plan. You need to have examined potential scenarios, and have Plan Bs ready.
This applies especially to strength and conditioning training. Obvious example: if you are planning conditioning work for a season, you need to have contingency plans if you, for example, roll your ankle and cannot run. How will your season plan be different if that happens?
But there are more subtle flexibilities, and that includes adapting the workload to the athletes' condition. Are they strong enough to increase their sets? Are they tired? Are they flexible enough?
Aaron Coutts gave one of the talks at my Level 2 Coaching General Principles course back in 2005, and he explained his solutions for this challenge. Aaron has worked for the Essendon Bombers and the Parramatta Eels.
He is one of the authors of this paper.
The guts of it is that if you ask athletes to rate their perceived exertion on a scale of 1-10, it is a good indicator of how hard they physically worked. The key idea that Aaron uses in his work is to use this surveying after training sessions, and use it to vary the intensity of trainings. If you ensure there is a constant variation in training intensities, athletes are less likely to fatigue or disengage. Following harder competitions/trainings with relatively easier ones, and vice versa, keeps athletes focussed, fitter, and more able to achieve the goals of trainings.
The adoption of these concepts means that AFL teams no longer belt their players with a hard fitness session on the Monday after a hard weekend game. Recovery and variety in training load is essential to peak performance.
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